White
Collar Season One Review
During
the mid-1970s, there were two network television detective shows involving
former conmen using their talents to outwit the bad guys and save the
day for their clients. Inspired partially by the motion picture classic
The Sting, both Switch and McCoy premiered
in 1975 and ran a handful of years on CBS and NBC, respectively. Featuring
Tony Curtis and Robert Wagner in the lead roles, the two actors brought
a suave debonair that proved no match for the criminal element while
the shows themselves were successful additions to the likes of The
Rockford Files and McMillan and Wife.
Cable station
USA Network debuted a worthy successor to these two series in October
2009 with White Collar. While it was ex-cop Eddie Albert who
recruited ex-con Wagner to join him in a private detective agency on
Switch, this newer addition to the genre features current convict
Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) convincing the FBI agent responsible for his
incarceration to participate in a unique work-release program—Caffrey
agrees to assist the FBI hunt down and capture bad guys in exchange
for serving the remainder of his sentence on the streets of New York
City instead of behind bars.
Although
Tony Curtis and Robert Wagner are acting icons who helped fashion the
meaning of “cool” during their glory years, Matt Bomer holds
his own following in the footsteps of such legends. Similar to his brief
semi-recurring role on NBC’s Chuck as secret agent Bryce
Larkin, the blue-eyed actor displays an ability to both woo the ladies
with a flash of his smile and solve crimes without breaking a sweat
or mussing his hair. The character of Neal Caffrey is an adept thief,
art forgery expert and conman who uses his brains and intelligence to
catch wrongdoers rather than relying on brawns or even the use of a
gun.
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White
Collar Season Two Review
The
first season of any television show is often filled with pitfalls. While
the creator of a series may have crafted an effective pilot episode,
the task of sustaining the premise of that initial installment is trickier.
Is there a strong enough narrative to keep the story fresh and entertaining
in the long haul? Do the characters live up to the promise of the pilot?
Is there a proper amount of chemistry between the lead actors? Can the
writing staff deliver the necessary scripts on a weekly basis? The answers
are basically unknown until production fully revs up.
While the
first season of the USA Network drama White Collar responded
in the affirmative to such potential obstacles, the series obviously
took advantage of the inherent learning experience of its inaugural
effort. The plot of White Collar is relatively simple—convicted
felon Neal Caffrey agrees to assist the FBI agent who put him behind
bars in lieu of not having to serve out the remainder of his jail sentence.
Each week the debonair Caffrey, an expert forger, master thief and cunning
conman, teams up with the middle class Peter Burke in solving art and
jewelry thefts, insurance frauds, corporate scheming and other “white
collar” crimes.
The first
season benefited from the considerable charm of the two lead actors.
As portrayed by Matthew Bomer, Neal Caffrey had an air of suave sophistication
that harkened back to the Rat Pack days of yesteryear and a silent innocence
that made him a likeable character despite his dubious past. Tim DeKay,
meanwhile, instilled in FBI agent Peter Burke the right mixture of professionalism,
expert crime solver, loving husband and down to earth nature to make
him the perfect counterpart to the more stylish and upscale Caffrey.
Together they formed an unstoppable team as Neal Caffrey used his conman
background to go undercover while Peter Burke kept it “honest”
as the two closed in on the criminal element of New York City.
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White
Collar and Catch Me If You Can
In
the pilot episode of the USA Network drama White Collar, convicted
forger Neal Caffrey makes an offer to Peter Burke, the FBI agent responsible
for his incarceration—Caffrey will assist Burke on his cases in
exchange for not having to serve out the remainder of his sentence behind
bars. “You can get me out of here,” the felon tells the
FBI agent. “There’s case law, precedent. I can be released
into your custody.”
Arguably
the most famous precedent that Caffrey alludes to involves another forger
and conman, Frank Abagnale, Jr. During the mid-to-late 1960s, Abagnale
roamed the United States while passing off counterfeit checks in practically
every city he traveled. Not content with breaking the law in just one
country, Abagnale likewise made his way across Europe, swindling millions
of dollars in the process. In addition to check fraud, he ran numerous
cons and masqueraded as a Pan Am Airlines pilot, medical doctor, university
professor and even passed the bar exam in order to gain employment in
a state attorney general’s office. Amazingly enough, he accomplished
all of the above before his twenty-first birthday.
After his
eventual capture and conviction, Frank Abagnale worked as both a consultant
for various financial institutions on fraud prevention and teacher at
the FBI Academy. In 1980, he published an account of his early life
in the book Catch Me If You Can and was further immortalized
in 2002 with the release of a screen version directed by Steven Spielberg
and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. Near the end of the film,
the FBI agent who captured Abagnale makes the same offer that Neal Caffrey
suggested to Peter Burke—an offer that is also ultimately accepted.
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White
Collar and Catherine the Great's Amber Music Box
On
the USA Network drama White Collar, convicted forger, conman
and art thief Neal Caffrey makes a deal with the FBI agent who arrested
him—instead of serving the remaining years of his prison sentence
in jail, Caffrey will assist Peter Burke in the investigation of various
“white collar” crimes. While the premise is a classic narrative
about two polar opposites forced into a reluctant partnership that develops
into a more meaningful rapport as the series goes along, the first two
seasons of White Collar also contained a serialized plotline
running through numerous episodes.
The catalyst
for Neal Caffrey suggesting the alliance between criminal and law officer,
for instance, was girlfriend Kate Moreau unceremoniously ending their
relationship while the conman was still behind bars. Despite having
only four months left on his prison sentence, Caffrey engineered an
escape from his maximum security cell in order to salvage his bond with
Kate. Instead of a reconciliation, he found an empty wine bottle and
the prospect of spending another four years in jail instead. Thus the
pilot episode of White Collar begins with the newly-formed
partnership of Neal Caffrey and Peter Burke, allowing the convicted
felon to find some sort of freedom on the streets of New York City.
Caffrey
had other motives, however, chief amongst them the need to still find
his lost love. Although he did not know it at the time, his search would
lead to a priceless item from the “Eighth Wonder of the World,”
a sunken German U-boat and a treasure of lost Nazi stolen art. It was
also a journey filled with love and loss, as well as tints of fate as
the main actors in his life all had a secret connection to a mystery
that was over sixty years old. And in many ways, it all began with a
game of Three-card Monte.
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White
Collar's Mozzie: A Modern Day Renaissance Man
Neal
Caffrey is one smooth and savvy individual. On the USA Network drama
White Collar, the former conman/forger/thief continuously smiles
his way through tricky situations, using his charm and debonair persona
to manipulate people in order to get his way. The convicted felon is
now a “consultant” for the FBI and while his handler, Peter
Burke, is more middle class and down to earth, he likewise exudes a
likeable charm to go along with his ample crime solving skills and respect
for the law. His wife Elizabeth, meanwhile, is an attractive and successful
caterer with a knack for keeping her often preoccupied husband grounded.
Then there’s
Mozzie, Neal Caffrey’s confidante and former criminal cohort.
While Caffrey rents a room in a luxurious New York City mansion and
the Burke’s reside in a respectable suburban townhouse, Mozzie
lives in a storage unit. While the others are comfortable in most social
situations, Mozzie is awkward and slightly socially inept. And while
Neal Caffrey and Peter Burke have a successful working relationship
based on trust and open communication, Mozzie has a deep distrust for
the FBI and relies on cryptic comments and codes as a personal form
of conversation.
Yet despite
Caffrey’s upscale and sophisticated qualities, as well as his
appreciation for the finer things in life, and Burke’s law-abiding
“everyman” characteristics, it is Mozzie that best exemplifies
the modern day Renaissance man attempting to make sense out of the upheaval
known as the Twenty First Century. During a time period where freedom
and privacy have been curtailed in order to serve the greater good,
for instance, Mozzie still believes in such concepts. “It’s
about doing what we want to do,” he tells Peter Burke during the
first season of White Collar. “Who cares about nine-to-fives
and 401Ks. Playing by the rules only makes borders that just take away
everything that’s good about living life.”
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Contemporary
Television Conmen and The Yellow Kid
In
the season four episode of the TNT drama Leverage entitled
“The Boiler Room Job,” the cast find themselves up against
the fictitious grandson of real life con artist Joseph “The Yellow
Kid” Weil. “Quite possibly the greatest grifter of all time,”
Sophie Devereaux explains in the installment, while Greg Sherman—the
supposed descendent of the Yellow Kid—remarks, “My family
invented most every con that you’ve ever heard of.”
Born in
1875, Joseph Weil was indeed the preeminent conman of the early part
of the Twentieth Century. It was during this time period that such intellectual
criminals flourished, creating elaborate ruses that originated from
the simple Three Card Monte to the famed “wire” that served
as the narrative of the 1975 Paul Newman/Robert Redford film The
Sting, to even elaborate ponzi schemes and stock market deceptions.
Although the Yellow Kid may not have invented every single con known
to man as Leverage claims, he nonetheless mastered them during
the fifty years that he was a professional charlatan.
In 1948,
at the age of seventy and finally retired from a life of crime, Joseph
Weil co-wrote his memoirs with W.T. Brannon. The resulting Autobiography
of America’s Master Swindler was reissued in 2011 by Nabat
Books and the entertaining story of the Yellow Kid features numerous
stories of his adventures and elaborate money-making schemes. Just as
the early part of the Twentieth Century saw the rise of the modern day
conman, however, the early part of the Twenty First Century has seen
a growing number of fictitious practitioners of the trade on the small
screen. In addition to the team of former thieves on Leverage—who
utilize elaborate cons to bring down corporate criminals—there
has been James “Sawyer” Ford on the ABC drama Lost
and Neal Caffrey from the USA Network series White Collar.
Any one of these contemporary figures could easily be a direct descendent
of Joseph “The Yellow Kid” Weil.
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